How to Make Sure Your Water is Safe to Drink

Safe drinking water is a necessity for every American family.

Given that we live in a technologically advanced society, you would think that in this day and age, we wouldn’t have to worry about safe drinking water. Communities like Flint, Michigan might beg to differ however, as dangerous amounts of lead have been found in their water supply since 2015.

All over the world, the subject of clean water is being discussed, whether we are talking about the ocean radiation from Fukushima, Japan, or the fact that in South Africa, the drinkable water supply has all but run out.

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You may think this doesn’t affect you, but at least 6 million water pipes in cities around the US are made of lead. All over the country, lakes, rivers, and groundwater are polluted by human chemicals and agricultural runoff, and more often than not we aren’t informed when our water becomes unsafe to drink.

So as a mom, what can you do about it? Here are a few ways you can be more proactive in making sure your family has safe water to drink.

Check out your pipes. Homes built after the 1980s are less likely to have lead pipes, but it’s a good thing to know anyway, whether your actual home provides safe drinking water.

Read up on your city’s water. Water reports are available at Environmental Working Group’s Tap Water Database by just plugging in your zipcode.

Buy a filter for your fridge. Water filter systems work really well to turn tap water into cold, drinkable refreshment.

Run your taps. If it turns out you do have lead pipes, run the water for at least 30 seconds before drinking to make sure any sitting liquid is flushed out (this can reduce lead levels up to 90 percent).

Test your water. You can buy a test from the EPA at epa.gov/safewater, but water testing kits are also readily available at hardware stores and online. If you have well water, make sure you are testing your water once a year anyway, as a general rule.

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